Pfeiffer Returns'Apology for the Life of an Actor' to SU
class=""MsoNormal"">SALISBURY---Following performances by the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford-upon-Avon and by the author at the Edinburgh International Fringe Theatre Festival, Scotland, Dr. T. Paul Pfeiffer, director of theater at Salisbury, brings his critically acclaimed one-man play Apology for the Life of an Actor back to the SU stage Friday-Sunday, September 23-25.
class=""MsoNormal"">Performed in the intimate Great Hall of Holloway Hall, this paean to the theatre benefits scholarships for theatre students at the University. Saturday performances include a dessert reception at 2 p.m. or dinner at 6:30 p.m.
class=""MsoNormal"">Premiering at SU in 1992, the play is based on the memoirs of Colley Cibber, the real-life 18th century actor, theatre manager and poet who rewrote Shakespeare “in order to make him fitter for the stage.” Mocked by his contemporaries, the Cibber character reviews his own history and marks his own passing with tales of backstage gossip and onstage triumphs and disasters.
class=""MsoNormal"">Portrayed by British character actor David Ryall and directed by the late Michael Mundell of the BBC in Stratford-upon-Avon, Cibber is played by the play’s author, Pfeiffer, at SU. Pfeiffer also starred during the play’s run in Edinburgh in 2000. Last year, he won a Maryland State Arts Council Individual Artist Award for his performance as Cibber.
class=""MsoNormal"">“During the long run at the festival, the play and the performance had grown significantly, allowing me to explore nuances I had not realized were present and to really experiment with the acting of it,” Pfeiffer said. “It was a thrilling experience, I can tell you.”
class=""MsoNormal"">For more than a decade, critics have lauded the play.
class=""MsoNormal"">“Pfeiffer has clearly done his research,” says James Mulligan of The Scotsman. “The world of Restoration London comes alive: coffee shops, Nell Gwynne; a time when actors dodged turnips and rakes spent Act Three sporting with dubious ladies. … With greasepaint and periwigs aplenty, it is a fascinating time travelogue, a hilarious and credible hymn of praise to the joy of entertaining.”
class=""MsoNormal"">“There is so much here to delight an audience: the rivalries, the malice, the joy of performance and the naughty gossip all brought swiftly into the house. … All of it is glorious and, if you love theatre, you will be in Seventh Heaven, and that I promise,” says Richard Edmonds of the Birmingham [England] Post.
class=""MsoNormal"">Tickets are $10 for Friday and Sunday performances. Curtain is 8 p.m. Friday, 2 p.m. Sunday.
class=""MsoNormal"">Tickets for Saturday’s 2 p.m. performance are $25 and include the dessert reception. Tickets for the 8 p.m. performance are $65 and include dinner.
class=""MsoNormal"">For reservations or more information call the SU Box Office at 410-543-6228 or visit the "